


Clearing Up

by SilentAcid



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Gen, I swear I tried to make it less shippy but then Kai went and was gay, M/M, blood mentions, it was supposed to be a short thing I don't know what happened, trans Kai, vomit mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 02:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11347917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentAcid/pseuds/SilentAcid
Summary: Kai wasn't sure what he expected when his regularly scheduled bloody hell started,but it wasn't this.





	Clearing Up

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: the most awkward coming out ever
> 
> Admittedly, I was hella scared to post it for a dozens of reasons but it's a first thing I managed to finish in a really long while so I don't want to keep it hidden. Huge thanks to this bunch of people that encouraged me to write and post this! 
> 
> Also, trans!Kai gives me life, so expect more of it I guess?

With how much late it was, Kai thought that when it would finally come, he'd feel relieved.

He couldn't be more wrong.

Waking up in a pool of his own blood was honestly a regular thing by now, it didn't even faze him anymore—it only frustrated him pretty badly more than anything else, washing it off his sheets, and sometimes his mattress too, was always a pain in ass; what would he give for this crap to at least come when he actually expected it.

At least as far as he was aware, he wasn't the only one who was hated by Mother Nature in this kind of way.

Yes, aside from the annoying stains all over his bed—and honestly, all over about everything—the blood wasn't really a problem. The problem was where it was coming from and _those goddamn cramps_.

For most of the time he was able to somehow ignore the fact that something was so painfully obviously not right with his body down there—but during _these_ days he was always becoming terrifyingly aware of it and gender dysphoria was haunting him like a ghost all the time, making him want to lock himself up in his apartment and hide in his bed, not talking to anyone at least until this shit was over.

Sadly, he couldn't really do that, he didn't have a believable excuse for not appearing at school and even Card Capital for several days in a row once per a month—and he was sure that sooner or later someone would connect the facts and figure out what really was the matter.

And boy, he really didn't want anyone to figure this out.

Cramps were incomparably easier to deal with—or at least they would be, if his sorry ass didn't run out of painkillers and completely forgot about it until he actually needed them.

And so here he was, sitting at his desk in the classroom, trying to not look too much like he was about to die at any given moment while his insides continued to tear themselves apart. On top of that, his hormones were acting up too, making him twice as irritated twice as easily as normally and in turn making him twice as likely to snap at someone.

At least the weather was shitty. Yeah, he could blame it on the weather this time.

He crossed his arms on the table and leaned down, burying his face in the space between his limbs. Hoping no one would hear that he groaned quietly and closed his eyes. Dear god, this day only just started but he already had enough.

"You okay, Kai?" a familiar voice sounded above his head; he shifted slightly and opened one eye so that he could look at Miwa.

"I'm _dying_ ," he replied, not even bothering to try and make himself sound less worn or irritated, he didn't try to hide the fact he was in pain either—Miwa knew, after all. He'd probably guess anyway.

"Oh—" As expected, what he got in response was an understanding nod as the blond dropped onto the seat in front of Kai's, turning to him with a worried face. "The Red Sea spilling?"

"Mhm," he only huffed, hiding his face between his arms again. Honestly, that was one of the reasons he didn't mind Miwa knowing—he didn't make a fuss over it and he always tried to not make it more awkward than he knew it already was.

"Painkillers?"

"'ve ran out earlier. Forgot to restock."

"Why didn't ya call me? I'd bring you some."

"Sorry, I was too busy trying to not stab myself."

Horrific as it sounded, it was just the truth. This time of the month was always a nightmare with how his self-loathing increased and fueled his self-destructive urges; it was normal that just trying to function properly was often taking all of his attention—leaving little to no time to think about even such simple solutions.

"Right." Luckily, Miwa was used to this by now. "The school nurse?"

"Don't want to tell anyone," he muttered in response; he would've glared at him for emphasis for the idea alone but he couldn't be bothered to raise his head so he decided to leave it be—that and, well, he figured Miwa was probably just trying to help. It was the thought that counted, or something.

"So... you're just planning to suffer for the entire day?" There was some disbelief in the blond's voice—and no wonder why, he's seen Kai going through this countless times, he was damn well aware of how bad it could be.

"I guess?" Kai replied, shifting his head slightly to look at the other. Yes, he was aware it was probably a terrible idea—but he'd rather go through half of the day dying than force himself to explain it to anyone. "I'll get some on the way to Card Capital probably."

"You sure you should go today? It might be better if you just head back home, so you can just—" Before Miwa could even finish his thought, Kai shook his head lightly.

"'m going," he muttered, burying his face between his arms again; after a short pause adding, " _Aichi_."

The blond couldn't help but laugh at that.

"You're seriously hopeless, man."

The teacher's arrival made them leave the subject for the time being—though honestly, they didn't pick it up again through all the time their classes lasted. Only when they were over Miwa tried to bring it up again—to no avail, Kai stubbornly insisted on coming to Card Capital regardless of his condition and even the fact that he threw up out of pain once.

At least he did, in fact, stop at a pharmacy to get some painkillers before they got there.

They didn't quite kick in yet by the time they got to the shop and it still didn't look like it was going to get better anytime soon—it was troublesome, considering Kai didn't want to worry anyone let alone have anyone find out the truth behind this.

At least upon walking into Card Capital, he was quickly and efficiently distracted—Aichi was there already, together with Ishida and Komoi.

"Kai-kun, hello!" Just hearing Sendou's voice made him feel somewhat better—and even made him smile, for the first time this day, even if just barely.

"Yo," he replied quietly as he walked closer, giving the other two a brief glance so they'd know they weren't ignored—though admittedly, he'd gladly just ignore the entire world for the moment and focus on Aichi only; it was enough that he had to go through literal hell, he didn't have much strength left to make an effort and interact with people.

"Morikawa and Izaki are not with you today?" Naoki asked while Kai dropped onto the chair next to him—he didn't even bother wondering about that, he knew that Miwa would give him an answer anyway, and a probably more detailed one on top of that.

"Nope." Indeed, the blond jumped in with an explanation, grabbing a chair from another table so he could join them too—Kai took the last free spot at their table. "Izaki mentioned something about a family event and Morikawa had a doctor appointment today, if I recall correctly."

"Too bad..." Aichi muttered with a sigh, but eventually he shook his head, smile returning to his face as he turned to look at Kai again—only to disappear once more when he finally got a closer look on the brunet's face; Kai could swear he could hear the alarms going off in Aichi's head at the very moment.

Fuck, did he really look that bad?

"Are you feeling okay?" Sendou asked, worry apparent on his face—and before Kai could even react, he was already reaching over the table and touching his forehead; the brunet blinked several times, somewhat confused.

"You look so tired and you're really pale..."

_Fuck._

Just as Aichi said that, Kai instantly could feel everyone staring at his face intently to confirm whether he made a good point or not—and he hated it, because he knew damn well that it was most likely the truth, it made perfect sense that he'd look like complete shit today.

"I'm fine, I just..." he bit his lip, hesitating for a moment—he didn't want to lie to Aichi, but the problem was, _he didn't want to tell him the truth either_. The only option left was to walk around it somehow, it seemed.

"I just had a tough day."

There, that would work. It wasn't a lie and it didn't reveal any troublesome details either—and knowing Aichi...

"Oh... I'm sorry. I hope you feel better soon."

... of course he wasn't going to question it further.

He could tell however that it was still bothering him and it wasn't even surprising, he just was like this, he worried about everyone a lot—even more so about Kai, it seemed sometimes. He really hated to worry him like that, but he wasn't sure if giving him a less vague explanation would be a good idea.

He wasn't sure if he was ready for it just yet.

The fear of a negative reaction was incredible, but what he was terrified of even more was being seen as less of a man once he'd tell someone—and when it came to Aichi, both of those fears were going completely over the roof, he didn't know if he'd be able to handle either of those coming from him.

Hell, he was almost completely sure he _wouldn't_ be able to handle that.

He must've started frowning as he thought about that, judging from the suspicious look Aichi was giving him; he sighed eventually, closing his eyes for a moment—and when he opened them again, he smiled gently at the other.

It visibly caught him by surprise, but he seemed somewhat relieved.

"Hope you didn't think I'm too tired to fight you," Kai said, the smile on his face slowly turning into a smirk—Aichi's face brightened completely now, his eyes shined in response.

God, he was so adorable.

"I actually hoped you'd be able to..." Sendou muttered sheepishly, his gaze lowering to the surface of the table between them as he fiddled with his deck box; Kai meanwhile reached for his.

"It takes a little more than a bad day to render me unable to fight you," he replied, his tone slightly teasing; it made Aichi chuckle in turn, which he took as a good sign—if he could laugh, he definitely wasn't too suspicious of him.

He searched through his deck for a moment to find his first Vanguard and then shuffled it, Aichi doing the same meanwhile; just a moment later they were both ready to go.

"Stand up, the Vanguard!"  
"Stand up, Vanguard!"

Now, if only the painkillers would actually start working finally.

It didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon though—and on top of that, he'd swear the cramps were actually getting worse as time went by; it was annoying and _distracting_ , because of this he continued to make stupid mistakes as their fight progressed—at least Aichi didn't seem to notice them, or at the very least was ignoring them completely.

Unfortunately, it didn't feel all that comforting when all he wanted to do at the moment was curl up in pain and just cry.

He tried not to focus on this at least, but it was really much easier said than done; it felt like someone continuously stabbed his abdomen with a particularly blunt knife and he was really grateful they were sitting at a table instead of standing—he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to stay on his feet currently.

And if the pain alone wasn't troublesome enough, on top of everything he was getting nauseous again. He bit at the inner side of his cheek as he felt his stomach turn more and more unpleasantly, hoping to maybe stop the feeling somehow—but to no avail.

"Kai...?" Miwa spoke up when he started his next turn. Obviously, he could hide how he felt from basically everyone, but hoping that Miwa wouldn't notice was like expecting cows to fly—it just wasn't happening.

He didn't answer, but he gave the blond a quick look, to show him he was listening.

"You look like you're gonna share something you've been hiding really deep. Again," Miwa said finally—under normal circumstances, Kai would've laughed, if not at the way he worded it, then at the fact he was being considerate enough to make it vague, so the others wouldn't necessarily understand what he meant.

He was feeling to sick to even think about laughing, though.

But still, he was grateful for the vagueness of this statement—obviously, it drew attention to him anyway, but rather than worried, the other three boys seemed just curious.

"I... might," he replied—and right after he did, he realized that opening his mouth right now wasn't probably the best idea; in an instant he could feel the contents of his stomach coming up, he slapped a hand over his mouth, trying his damnest hard to keep it all down.

For the moment he managed, but he was almost sure it wouldn't last for long.

"Excuse me for a second," he muttered, not moving his hand an inch and getting up; as he placed his cards face down on the table, he glanced quickly over the others—Naoki and Shingo were more than definitely worried now, but that wasn't it in Aichi's case.

Aichi was just straight up terrified.

He didn't have time to dwell on it now though, let alone try to calm him down; he just headed to the toilet without further explanations—and bless that he did, because just as he walked in, everything in his stomach came up again, as if on command, and he simply threw up into the sink.

He wasn't even completely done yet when he heard others approaching him; three people worth of steps from what he caught.

"Kai, are you okay?"

Alright, Misaki wasn't maybe a person he wanted to see him in a situation of that sort, but it wasn't an end of the world either. She wasn't the kind of person who'd dwell on this or ask uncomfortable questions, so he definitely could live with this.

"I told you you should just go back home..."

Miwa seeing him was anything but a problem. He knew what was going on, he's seen that before—and on top of everything, he's seen things worse than that anyway.

"Kai-kun...?"

Aichi, however, was absolutely the last person he wanted to see anything akin of this from him. He could only imagine how worried Sendou must've been now—and the thought that he could've easily assumed now that Kai lied to him was making him feel even more sick.

God bless that at least it didn't seem like he was going to continue throwing up.

Also god bless there wasn't any big chunks of food in what he just puked, at least it didn't seem it was going to clog the sink.

Not looking up, he turned the water on, dipping his hand in the stream and wiping his mouth, then running the still wet hand over his face. Even without looking in the mirror he was aware his face was completely red at the moment—he was damn sure he never was so embarrassed before, he honestly hoped the ground would just open up somehow and swallow him whole.

Sadly, there was no chance of that happening.

"I'm... sorry for that," he muttered, finally straightening up and turning his head a little—though only enough to look at Misaki, who was standing the closest to him.

"It's fine... are you alright though?" she replied as she walked even closer; she had her sleeves pulled up already and she set a hand atop of one of his—the one he was still resting on the edge of the sink. He looked away but he still could feel her stare on his face.

"You really do look pretty pale... are you sick?"

"I'm fine," he murmured, still not looking at her. Not that it really changed anything at this point, he was sure everyone was aware he was just trying to brush it off.

But he really didn't want to make a fuss about it now.

Or ever, actually.

"Kai-kun, if you're sick you should've just stayed at home!" Aichi said, walking inside of the restroom as well. "It can get even worse if you'll just—"

" **I'm not sick!** "

The response was pretty involuntary and he didn't even realize he raised his voice at first—it was only when he noticed that Tokura moved aside again and when he looked up at the mirror and saw Aichi's reflection that it hit home.

And boy, he regretted that immediately.

Biting his lip, he turned around finally, to face the smaller boy—he still looked so worried and scared, now on top of that also confused and lost and also weirdly rejected; it seemed like he was about to either burst into tears or run away from there.

Maybe that was why Kai didn't dare to take even a single step towards him.

"I'm... really not," he spoke up again, this time much calmer and his voice much lower—actually, barely above a whisper. "I just..."

What did he even want to say?

He wanted to calm him down somehow, yes—but was it really possible without telling him the truth?

Hell, he couldn't even be sure if the truth would calm him down at all and wouldn't freak him out even more instead, let alone any sort of excuse he could potentially come up with.

But he didn't want to admit that, not yet at least, he still wasn't ready, he was still afraid of what the potential reaction could be—honestly, he was just terrified he would reject him if he'd find out about this.

He didn't want to be rejected because of this. Not by Aichi.

But at the same time, he felt terrible still hiding it from him, he hated so much not being fully honest with him—he wasn't outright lying to him, sure, but it still felt like he was pretending to be someone he wasn't.

Then again, he'd rather stick to that, than have Aichi start seeing him as a girl—which was another possible result of him admitting the truth; he wasn't sure if he'd rather be rejected or have that happen.

He wouldn't be able to handle either of those, he supposed.

He'd rather die than—he scolded himself internally at once, that wasn't a good moment to let his thoughts go there, he didn't exactly have time to be suicidal at the moment, he had to figure out how to explain himself.

"Kai-kun...?"

At the sound of Aichi's voice he blinked a few times, looking back at him—he didn't even notice when his focus moved from the boy to the wall behind him, but he didn't question it, it was quite typical when he was zoning out.

And judging from Sendou's uncertain expression at the moment, he must've been doing that for longer than he thought—Miwa and Misaki were staring at him confused too, he noticed after a quick glance.

"I..." He bit his lip, brow furrowing as he continued to look at Aichi—he was still looking at him all expectantly and he still seemed so insecure and worried; he'd hate to make it even worse.

If he'd just tell him the truth... he'd at least know for sure there was nothing wrong with him—or well, not with his physical health, in any case.

And whatever the reaction would be, he'll worry about that later.

"Uh, Kai just—" Miwa spoke up; apparently he was quiet for long enough for him to assume he couldn't find a good way to answer—Kai silenced him quickly though, just shaking his head.

"No, it's fine," he said, now not looking at either of his friends anymore, just on the floor somewhere between Aichi and Miwa instead. "I'm gonna tell him."

An awkward silence fell; it took him a moment but he finally forced himself to look up at the other two—Aichi seemed even more confused than before, but at the same time somewhat relieved. Miwa, meanwhile, was just giving him a serious yet concerned look.

"You sure man...?"

He only nodded in response—but at the same time he sucked his teeth subconsciously; second thoughts on whether he really should were already flooding his mind and he started hesitating, he didn't want to run from this though. He wouldn't forgive himself if he'd do that now.

He probably would have zoned out again, if it wasn't for someone pushing him forward and towards Aichi—turning around he found out it must've been Misaki, she was standing where he was just a moment ago with her hands set on her hips.

"Aichi, could you take him outside? He probably could use some fresh air."

At first he was confused as to where it came from so out of sudden—but after a closer look on Tokura's expression made it clear that she just came to conclusion it might be somewhat easier for him to talk without any other people around. Well, that, and she really wanted him to get some air.

He couldn't exactly blame her.

"Ah—true!" Aichi replied meanwhile, lightly tugging at the edge of Kai's sleeve, obviously trying to lead him out of the toilet—but noticing he wasn't exactly moving from his spot, he hesitated. "That is, if it's alright with you, Kai-kun? It should do you some good..."

It was only then that he finally turned back to look at him and nodded lightly.

"Yeah," he said only, averting his gaze pretty quickly. "Sorry, I just—"

"M-m, don't worry about this!" Aichi replied almost instantly, once again tugging at his sleeve—this time he followed, only shooting Misaki a quick grateful look as he let himself be dragged out of the restroom and towards the door.

"You were probably just thinking about how to put in words what you wanted to tell me, right? So don't worry, it's fine. Take your time!"

The boy continued talking as they walked out of the store; he was mostly rambling really—it wasn't surprising at all, he was visibly nervous and he had reasons to be, given the way Kai was acting and all.

It took only a moment before they reached the bench by the side of the store; Aichi instantly went to sit down and gently pulled at his sleeve so he'd join him—he didn't really resist.

Neither of them spoke a word—Kai wasn't even looking at Aichi, instead he stared at his hands while he continued to twirl his thumbs around nervously.

Alright, he was going to tell him—but how to get to it?

He didn't want to just say it directly, it seemed too awkward—and he wasn't even sure if Aichi would understand in the first place if he'd go ahead and just say he's trans.

But if being straightforward wasn't an option, then how should he word it?

He'd like to think he was making it a bigger problem than it actually was, but he knew it wasn't like this—it was important, he really wanted him to understand so he wanted to make it simple, but at the same time he wanted to eliminate the possibility of him getting any sort of wrong idea.

And on top of everything, he still wasn't sure if he made the right choice.

Fighting with his thoughts, he didn't even notice Aichi scooted a little closer to him—only when he placed a hand on one of his wrists he realized he moved closer; he didn't even manage to look up at him before he spoke again.

"You know, you don't have to tell me if it's too hard," Sendou said softly as he gave him a gentle, reassuring smile—and he could've sworn that for this very moment, his cramps were replaced by a ridiculously huge swarm of butterflies flooding his stomach.

Dear lord, he didn't deserve this boy.

"I don't want you to push yourself."

It was only when he said that that it hit Kai how pathetic he actually was. Aichi was visibly utterly nervous and worried to death about his current state—and yet, it was him comforting Kai now, not the other way around. And he couldn't even get himself to explain the situation to him.

To hell with this.

"No, it's just..." He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "It's something not many people know about and I never really... had to tell someone about it like this. So I just don't know how to put it in words properly."

There was a short pause and then—

"Oh!" Aichi squeezed his wrist lightly; his voice sounded somewhat calmer now, surprisingly. "It's okay, there's no hurry. Take your time."

_He didn't deserve this boy._

Once again he went quiet for a moment—but this time he actually managed to focus on the actual problem, without his thoughts getting sidetracked too much. Finally, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, a little awkwardly maybe, before speaking up again.

"I do see myself as a guy... and I always did, but..." He paused for a second, biting his lip. It was even harder than he expected it would be. "I was... born with a wrong body."

There, he said it.

He thought he was nervous before already, but now he wasn't so sure, suddenly he felt so terribly weak and his heart raced like it planned to pop out of his chest; he was glad he had his hands folded because he could at least stop them from shaking that way.

Aichi was quiet only for a few seconds and even though for Kai it felt like hours anyway, he was glad it didn't actually last longer.

"You mean that... um..."

He bit his lip again; somewhere deep inside he expected he will have to specify what he meant, even if just for confirmation. He didn't look at the other, he couldn't force himself to.

"To put it simply, I... have female parts."

Once again silence fell between the two of them and Kai would've sworn he could just faint from this nervousness at any moment; he was starting to feel dizzy and he was having trouble breathing—lack of an answer wasn't really making it easier and he still couldn't bring himself to look at Aichi, he was too scared of what his expression could reveal.

"Oh. _Oh_ ," he heard finally; Aichi sounded shocked, which was obvious given what he's been told—but at the same time he seemed somewhat relieved and surprisingly... positive.

It was definitely not the kind of reaction Kai expected from him. He wasn't complaining though.

"Is... everything alright...?" he asked quietly and finally managed to push himself to turn his head and look at him—and when he saw that sheepish, genuine smile his heart just skipped a beat.

"Y-yeah... it's just..." Aichi muttered, fiddling with his hands awkwardly. "It explains a lot."

Maybe he was still smiling in the same way as before, but once he said that, Kai's heart sunk in his chest in an instant.

He instantly came up with at least half a dozen of explanations of what Aichi could mean, every next worse than the previous one and most of them completely ridiculous—it was mainly to not let himself focus on that one which was actually a pretty likely option, because that would be probably the worst to handle.

He really didn't want to think about it, not now when he just managed to calm down somewhat—but the threat of that possibility was still haunting his mind, no matter where he tried to redirect his thoughts.

He honestly had no idea how he managed to keep his voice cool when he asked;

"What exactly...?"

Aichi's first response was an awkward laugh. He didn't know what to think anymore.

"Ah, you see... I kinda... noticed..." the other boy spoke, fidgeting with his fingers anxiously; he wasn't looking at Kai anymore, his gaze darted off somewhere to the side—and his smile turned much more nervous too.

"Um, well, you... always wear so many layers and I kept wondering why, and you never remove your shirt, not even on the beach... and—maybe it's just me but—your voice... seems to get a little higher when you get really excited? And I always thought your hands are kinda feminine and... you have... really full lips..."

He continued for a while longer, probably listing a dozen of similar things, but Kai wasn't really listening anymore—he was just too shocked to focus on his words; he wasn't sure what exactly he expected, but he was sure _it wasn't this_.

Needless to say though, he was really glad to be wrong.

It took a moment before the initial shock wore off—and when it did, all he could think about was how he was so, so stupid that he didn't even consider there could be a positive outcome.

Then again, he couldn't really blame himself, he was too used to negative reactions and his mind was always darting off to the negative assumptions, no matter what.

But either way, it didn't matter now. For once neither of his suspicions was even remotely close to being right and he suddenly felt so accepted and appreciated—honestly, he'd never think Aichi was paying so much attention to such little details.

"—Kai-kun...?"

He blinked several times, focusing again on the boy.

"Sorry, I just..." He shook his head lightly, feeling his lips curl into a smile basically on their own. "I just didn't expect you'd pick up on all of this."

What he expected was much, much worse.

Aichi only laughed again, smiling awkwardly and scratching his cheek; he still wasn't looking at him, though he kept throwing nervous glances in his direction.

"Well, you're really important to me but you never talk about yourself so I... tried to catch some things on my own..." he muttered, a faint blush slowly crawling onto his face as he spoke—and Kai wasn't sure how did he manage to stay still or keep a straight face anymore.

He took a mental note to talk about himself more often.

"You're... not weirded out, right?"

He blinked once, twice—at first he was confused as to why he would be in the first place, it took him a moment to realize Aichi might've assumed he'd find it creepy that he paid so much attention.

He had no idea how did he manage to forget he wasn't the only one prone of overthinking thing between the two of them. He supposed it was all the nerves.

"Ah, no, not at all," he replied finally, shaking his head—and he smiled, hoping to reassure the other at least somewhat. "I'm a little surprised, but that's all."

He paused for a moment after that, but eventually his eyes darted off somewhere to the side as well; he bit his lip, frowning lightly.

"And you...? You're not... this doesn't change anything, right?"

Now it was Aichi's turn to be confused and surprised—it took a few seconds before he processed what Kai must've meant, then he finally shook his head and smiled again.

"Of course not!" he said. "It's not like it makes any difference, Kai-kun is still Kai-kun, after all."

In this very moment Kai's heart all but melted; he honestly wasn't sure anymore why he was so afraid of telling him—and he was really glad he did that finally.

The silence that fell between them was more pleasant; with all the tension and nerves gone now, the atmosphere became much more serene, like it was for them quite often.

It didn't last for long though, just a brief while later Aichi spoke up again.

"But... I don't really understand how does that relate to you—" He stopped before he even finished his thought, his eyes widening and his face flushing in an instant; Kai supposed he realized on his own what might've been the problem.

"Y-you mean... y-you're..."

The brunet sighed softly.

"Bleeding like a bitch from an organ I shouldn't even have? Yes, yes I am," he said, giving the other boy a bitter smile. He was maybe a little bit too literal, but that was how it was, after all.

"As I said - I'm not sick."

Aichi went quiet for a while once again, just staring awkwardly at the space in front of him; after a brief moment he just blinked a few times and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something—but he didn't, not until the second time.

"Does it... really hurt _that_ much?"

Kai couldn't help but roll his eyes and laugh nervously.

"Well, I... you've seen how bad I got it so I won't lie... but I'm used to this," he muttered in response, this time he averted his gaze; it was fairly awkward admittedly, to talk about this with someone other than Miwa.

Though as awkward as it was, it also felt good to be able to open up somewhat.

He should do it more often.

"And you just... went to school like this?"

"Yes...?"

"Kai-kun!"

He could only laugh again.

"I can't really use that as an excuse, especially when I'm hiding it from the entire world," he explained, shrugging lightly as that bitter smile crawled back onto his face. "It's really something you just... have no choice but get used to. But I do appreciate the concern."

"Ah... true..." Aichi sighed and frowned, pouting up at him slightly—he definitely shouldn't be allowed to do that, Kai's heart could barely take how cute he was.

"But you should at least go straight home after school! You should be resting..."

_But I wanted to see you._

Though looking at the outcome, he had to admit Aichi was right—and Miwa earlier too, when he told him he should just go home today. Sometimes he hated how stubborn he could be.

"I—I'm gonna walk you back home."

Kai only blinked once, twice, finally staring at the other boy in disbelief after he said that; he had slight trouble processing the information—it took him a moment to regain his composure, but when he finally did, he only laughed under his breath.

"You don't even know where I live."

"You'll have to show me then!" Aichi insisted stubbornly; Kai could see in his stare that he wasn't planning to back down on this—but it still couldn't stop him from messing around a bit.

"What if I won't?"

" _Kai-kun!_ "

Once again he just laughed at his scolding tone.

"We still didn't finish our fight, did we...?" he mused, raising an eyebrow and glancing at the wall behind them, as if he wanted to take a look inside of the shop through it.

"Don't try to change the subject now..."

"I'm not," Kai said, his stare slowly moving back to Aichi as he smirked. "If you defeat me, I'll let you walk me home."

The younger boy's face brightened up at once, smile returning to his face and his eyes widened, joy and excitation apparent in his gaze—Kai only smiled himself, slowly standing back and turning around to head back to the shop.

"But... I still don't know where you live..." Aichi muttered; the brunet stopped at that, glancing at him above his shoulder.

"Guess I'll have to show you then."

Kai indeed lost that fight.


End file.
